Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a biological polymer that plays key roles in transcription, translation and many other biological functions. Over the last several decades RNA has been found to play a variety of regulatory roles in gene expression. In a phenomenon known as RNA Interference (RNAi), a RNA molecule of appropriate sequence will down-regulate expression of a given gene by preventing the corresponding messenger RNA (mRNA) from producing protein. RNA with interference activity is known as an iRNA and has the capability to cause degradation of an mRNA. When an iRNA forms complementary Watson-Crick base pairs with an mRNA, it induces mRNA cleavage by accessory proteins. The source of the iRNA can be viral infection, transcription, or introduction from exogenous sources.
RNAi has been rapidly developed into a potent and broadly applied tool, with applications in medicine, biofuels, agriculture and basic research. RNAi therapeutics center on down-regulating the expression of genes that are over-expressed in disease states. Up-to-date information of medical applications of RNAi is available. Beyond medicine, RNAi is widely used to manipulate and evaluate gene expression in eukaryotic systems. Alternative mechanisms for RNAi-based technologies have significant potential.
It is an object of the current invention to provide compositions and methods for the RNA interference of non-coding RNAs.